Rating agencies were hoping the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) would provide some type of work-around to define the new rule a little more generously for them. They may have seen those hopes fulfilled, as the agency announced late Thursday it will now allow bond issuers a six-month reprieve from including credit ratings in their offering documents, according to a Dow Jones report.

Wall Street has been outraged, calling this yet another unintended consequence of financial regulation.

But is Wall Street making a big deal out of nothing? According to people familiar with the matter, there are only three deals of this sort in the pipeline right now. One of them, Ford Motor , recently postponed an asset-backed debt offeringbecause rating agencies are reluctant to have their ratings cited.

But whatever activity existed, some voices on Wall Street say, now will be halted.